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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #364336
Research Project: Environmental and Plant Factors That Influence Trace Element Bioavailability in Food Crops

Location: Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory

Title: Growth and metal uptake of lettuce [Lactuca Sativa L] on soil amended with biosolids and gypsum

Author
item HIRPASSA, WELWLLA - Addis Ababa University
item Codling, Eton

Submitted to: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/23/2019
Publication Date: 5/21/2019
Citation: Hirpassa, W., Codling, E.E. 2019. Growth and metal uptake of lettuce [Lactuca Sativa L] on soil amended with biosolids and gypsum. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 50:2033-2040.

Interpretive Summary: Sewage sludge (biosolids) have been used as fertilizer for crops such as corn, wheat, soybean and forages for over forty years. There are concern of potential heavy metals (cadmium, lead, copper, manganese and zinc) accumulation in vegetable crops grown on soil amended with biosolids. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine heavy metal uptake and accumulation by lettuce grown on soil amended with limed and composed biosolids with and without flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGDG). Lettuce yield increased with biosolids application compared to the control, while FGDG did not influence lettuce yield. Heavy metal concentrations were higher in the plants grown on the composted biosolids compared to the control and limed biosolids. FGDG with or without biosolids did not affect heavy metal concentrations. The sources and rates of biosolids used in this experiment did not exceed the range of heavy metals found in commercially grown lettuce.

Technical Abstract: Published literature have shown that biosolids improved soil physical and chemical properties and have been used as fertilizer for agronomic crops. Heavy metal uptake and accumulation by vegetable crops grown on biosolids-amended soil is of concern. This study evaluated the effects of biosolids and flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGDG) on yield and metal uptake of two consecutive crops of lettuce. A Christiana soil was amended with limed or composted biosolids at rates of 40 and 80 T ha-1 with and without 10 T ha-1 FGDG or with FGDG alone. At both harvests, lettuce yield was higher, compared with the unamended control, in all biosolids treatments, whereas FGDG alone did not significantly affect yield. Lettuce lead concentration was below instrument detection limits. Copper, manganese and zinc concentrations were highest in plants grown in the composted biosolids treatments for the first crop. Cadmium and copper were highest in plants grown on the limed biosolids treatment in the second crop compared to the control and FGDG. Ranking of heavy metal concentration in the lettuce tissue were Zn> Mn> Cd >Pb. In all cases metal concentrations, did not exceed the range found commercially ground lettuce.